Gathering Dust

(Props to our resident historian Craig for the header)
After a lifetime of reading and writing about history, Daniel J. Boorstin, is history, as the Pulitzer Prize winning historian and former Librarian of Congress, died Saturday at the age of 89. The Doogie Howser of his day, he entered Harvard at the age of 15, later adding degrees from Oxford and Yale University.

Randolph, the Black-Listed Actor

Randolph, the Black-Listed Actor
was on a very shady list,
and if you ever saw it
you'd call him a Communist.
All of the other actors
pointed and named names.
They never let poor Randolph
play in any acting games.
Then one day in '66,
Frankenheimer came to say
Randolph and your black-list friends
won't you appear in my film Seconds?
Then how the actors loved him,
and they shouted out with glee,
Randolph, the black listed actor,
you'll be dead the year after 2003.

John Randolph, a veteran character actor who overcame the Hollywood blacklist to appear as Clark Wilhelm Griswold, Sr. in Christmas Vacation, died last week at the age of 88. With a career spanning from Broadway in the 1930s to two movies that were released in 2003, Randolph attained his greatest fame for his Tony-award winning performance in Neil Simon's Broadway Bound in 1987. He also played the police chief in "Serpico," Jack Nicholson's father in "Prizzi's Honor" Tom Hanks's grandfather in "You've Got Mail" and was Roseanne Barr's father on "Roseanne." After he and his wife, also an actress, refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955, he found himself on the blacklist, where he remained until John Frankenheimer cast him and fellow black listers Will Geer and Jeff Corey in the sci-fi film Seconds in 1966.

What's the Buzz?

(Another shout out to Touchdown Tammy for the epitaph)
Carl Anderson learned the hard way that there are some families you just don't mess with, as the former Judas of stage and screen in the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar,” has died of leukemia at age 58, a last warning coming two days before The Passion of the Christ opened. Luca Lionello, you better watch your ass.

No, it Isn't Fair

(Kudos to Touchdown Tammy for the epitaph)
Don Cornell, a big-band singer who had a string of hits in the 1950s and early '60s, including "It Isn't Fair" and "I'll Walk Alone," died alone last Monday at the age of 84. Also known for such songs as "I'm Yours," "The Bible Tells Me So," "Most of All" and "Hold My Hand," Cornell sold more than 50 million records, and was awarded on of the first stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Thirty years later, he made the Big Band Hall of Fame.

Gee Whiz

Or
Whiz Bang(Props to Don for the alternate)
A rough offseason continues for the Phillies family as Andy Seminick, the last everyday member of the 1950 NL Champion Whiz Kids, died yesterday at the age of 83, just 5 weeks after the death of that team's second baseman, Mike Goliat. The overachieving young team took the NL by storm, led by Robin Roberts 20 wins, Seminick's steady play and Jim Konstanty's MVP performance as the closer, taking the Phils first pennant since 1915. After being swept by the Yankees in 4 games decided by a total of 6 runs - a series which Seminick played despite a broken ankle - great things were expected for the Phils. That promise was never realized, and the Phils wouldn't win another pennant until 1980, a team populated with stars who had learned the game on teams Seminick managed in the Phils minor league system.

Palm-no-live

Formaldehyde?! You're soaking in it. Palmolive's Madge the Manicurist has gone to that great salon in the sky. Jan Miner, 86, the actress who portrayed Madge, has broken her final nail. While her family vehemently denies rumors of Ms. Miner being embalmed with the dish soap, she looked surprisingly smooth at her wake.
(Guest obit courtesy of Monty)

That Hit the Spot

After allowing 152 executions as governor of Texas, George W. Bush got to pull the plug for the first time as president, sending the First Pooch to the great kennel in the sky. Spot, a name reflecting all the wisdom, creativity and insight of the White House, was the offspring of former First Dog Millie, and had recently suffered a series of strokes. An unemployed Washington man was given $10 to dig a hole and dispose of the dog, the first new job created by the current administration since hiring a speech therapist to teach the president that its pronounced nu-cle-ar, not nuc-ul-ar. Maybe that's why we can't find them.

Quit Horsing Around

Michael Rowland, a jockey with 3,998 career victories died this month from injuries suffered at a fall at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky.

He Met His Last Deadline

The man who used a resurgence in superhero titles to help revive DC Comics in the 1950s succumbed to the failings of mortal men. Julius Schwartz, remaker of supermen like the Flash, Green Lantern and Batman, has died at 88. He pulled the heroes together to former the Justice League of America - an idea copied by archrival Marvel in the form of the Fantastic Four. He later joked that in one bold stroke he saved both comic companies.

(Props to Schwartz himself, who penned his own epitaph in his memoir.)

From Building a Black Box to Filling One

Jerome Lederer, the man who sent Charles Lindbergh to what he thought was certain death and later launched NASA's Office of Manned Space Flight Safety after the launchpad space capsule fire in 1967 that killed astronauts Roger Chaffee, Virgil Grissom and Edward White II 101; Pioneer in Plane and Spacecraft Safety, died at the age of 101. "I did not have too much hope that he would make it," Lederer admitted years later of Lindbergh. "I just went out because I was a friend of his, and I wanted to see the airplane, to look the situation over." Among Lederer's other contributions to defying the heavens was the development of the black box flight data recorders on board all aircraft.

Next Stop, the Haunted Mansion

(Props to Monty for the header)
John Hench, a Disney designer who helped build Disneyland and Disneyworld and painted the official portraits for the Mickey Mouse's 25th, 50th, 60th and 70th birthday's died at age 95. Tough job, as we all know how much ink drawings age over time. He's also the brains behind such attractions as "It's a Small World," also known as "the Parade of Stereotypes."

Soul Survivor Fades to Black

(Props to Don for the headline and for tracking this one down)
or
Black-balled
Richard Dennis Powell, believed to be the last surviving executive from the days of the Negro Leagues, died at the age of 92. Powell took the Elite (pronounced E-light) Giants from Baltimore to Nashville, making them financially successful enough to remain in the league, and during his years with the team, he found such players as Junior Gilliam and Joe Black, both of whom would go on to play with the Brooklyn Dodgers. While Powell and his brethren were able to keep dozens of Negro League teams afloat for more than 30 years, major league baseball front offices remained the domain of old white men until the Atlanta Braves hired Bill Lucas in 1976. To date, there have been only three black general managers in the major leagues.

Raizing the Dead

Jason Raize, the original stage Simba in the Broadway version of The Lion King, committed suicide at the age of 28, possibly to avoid enduring The Lion King 2 3/8 or whatever other tired retread Comcast, er, Disney, has in mind next.